Ken Feltman Past president; International Association of Political Consultants :
Experts are reaching different conclusions on April's numbers. Payrolls grew for the third straight month but unemployment is back up to 9 percent. What are average American families to make of government-issued numbers that seem to point in different directions? Their personal situation will determine what they think.
No matter how the partisans on both sides try to spin the numbers, the simple fact is that many Americans have an uneasy feeling about their quality of life. Food prices are following gas prices: Up every time you visit the grocery store. Families are cutting back.
More people are running through their savings. Some are getting desperate. They don't care if "experts" say the economy is improving, has bottomed out, is stagnant or is sinking. If they can't find a job that will support their family, workers are not cheered by a third straight month of job growth. As they cut back and cancel vacation plans, they are fixated on one household.
A downturn that won't let go is cruel, a death by a thousand cuts. First rank-and-file families feel it. Then the politicians feel it. President Obama will take a hit. The president always does when the economy stinks. But so will hundreds of other politicians. Nobody escapes a recession that won't go away.